Define Serialized Path for Property in Symfony 7

The Serializer component facilitates the conversion of objects to a designated format (such as JSON or XML) and the reverse process. In some applications, we may need to use nested structure when serializing a specific property. This tutorial provides example how to define serialized path for property in Symfony 7 application.

Symfony offers the #[SerializedPath] attribute that allows to define serialized path for concrete property.

src/Entity/User.php

<?php

namespace App\Entity;

use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Attribute\SerializedPath;

class User
{
    #[SerializedPath('[profile][info][phone]')]
    public string $phone;

    public function getPhone(): string { return $this->phone; }
    public function setPhone(string $phone): void { $this->phone = $phone; }
}

In this scenario, the serialization of the User object involves nesting the phone property within the profile.info structure.

src/Controller/TestController.php

<?php

namespace App\Controller;

use App\Entity\User;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Attribute\Route;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\Encoder\JsonEncoder;
use Symfony\Component\Serializer\SerializerInterface;

class TestController
{
    #[Route('/')]
    public function index(SerializerInterface $serializer): Response
    {
        $user = new User();
        $user->setPhone('16111122333');

        $json = $serializer->serialize($user, JsonEncoder::FORMAT);

        return new Response($json); // Output: {"profile":{"info":{"phone":"16111122333"}}}
    }
}

Please be aware that utilizing both #[SerializedPath] and #[SerializedName] for the same property is not allowed.